Vietnam War

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Transcript of Vietnam War

Vietnam War and Anti-WarAlex Beekman and Juster RiveraThe Domino Theory Speculated that the 'fall' of one state to communism will lead to the fall of surrounding states to communism Dwight D. EisenhowerCommunist Regime was apparent in Northern Vietnam US afraid of Domino Theory going into effectDeclaration of War imminent Civil Rights movement occurred in parallel with Anti-War sentimentsPeace organizations were not popular in the nation until the Cold WarStudents for a Democratic Society Free Speech MovementBackground French occupied Vietnam for 100 yearsDien Bien Phu Falls, forced to leaveGeneva ConferenceTemporary partition at 17th parallelNational elections to be held in 1956BackgroundWorks Cited "The Antiwar Movement." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 2014. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.Barringer, Mark, and Tom Wells. "The Anti-War Movement in the United States." The Anti-War Movement in the United States. The Oxford Companion to American Military History, 1999. Web. 12 Mar. 2015."Vietnam War Protests." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2015."Overview of the Vietnam War." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web.Brigham, Robert K. "Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. Communists supported the NorthNational Liberation Front (Viet Cong)Ho Chi MinhOriginally anti-FrenchAllowed both Communist and Anti-Communist to joinClaimed to be separate from North VietnamViolent group, battled South VietnamBoth opposed Ngo Dinh DiemNorth Vietnam/Viet CongUS not happy about outcome at GenevaCreates South East Asian Treaty Org.With US aid, Ngo Dinh Diem is elected president of South Vietnam Immediately claimed North Vietnam wanted to take SV by forceLaunched counterattackAlso, used CIA to identify and imprison suspected communistsSEATOGuiding QuestionsWhat caused strong opposition towards the War in Vietnam and how did Anti-war sentiment spread so widely across the nation?What reasons did the US have for declaring War on Vietnam ?What did the United States accomplish by engaging in a war with Vietnam?US InvolvementNovember 1, 1963, Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated with US approvalToo radicalOriginally US sent military advisors16,000 by 1963Viet Cong take over Mekong Delta in 19631965, LBJ escalated US involvementAir strikes on North, troops sent (500,000 by 1968)Gulf of TonkinAugust 2, 1964, USS Maddox engaged three NV torpedo boatsFirst involvement of US forces in VietnamTet OffensiveJanuary 31, 1968, NV launched waves of attacks on SV70,000 soldiers attack major citiesMilitary defeat, but psychological victoryGot America to start negotiating (With Nixon, LBJ left office)My Lai MassacreMarch 16, 1968, US soldiers kill around 500 unarmed SV civiliansMisunderstandingDozens of other battles brought the final death toll to 400-800,000 soldiers in SV; 500,ooo-1,000,000 soldiers in NV; up to 2,000,000 civiliansMajor ConflictsDiscriminatory draftingMedia portrayal of War in Vietnam moved people to oppose the devastating conflictThe validity of US involvement in Vietnam Anti-War Movement CausesEnd of the WarSecret peace meetings began in Paris in 1968By 1972, Sec. of St. Henry Kissinger and NV representatives Xuan Thoy and Le Duc Tho agree in preliminary peace draftSV President Nguyen van Thieu reject itFall of SaigonViet Cong captures Saigon on April 30, 1975War is overUmmm... We lostOpposition to the DraftDrafting age significantly reduced compared to drafting age of WWII soldiersFrom 26 to 19Young Americans sought to fight for more rights They were allowed to die at 19, but were not allowed to drink or vote Change was necessary and imminent26th Amendment Draft deferments were unfair to young men who could not afford higher educationMinorities saw combat more regularly than their white counterpartsMedia during the Vietnam War US Validity of Entering the WarThe War was becoming too expensive$25 billion per year More men called for drafts to fuels war effortsAs many as 40,000 per month College students attributed US involvement in Vietnam to ImperialismCongress justified entering through Domino Theory Domestic Issues plagues the nation during Vietnam WarCivil Rights MovementFree Speech Movement12 men burned their draft card to protest the war in New York in 1964SDS, along with other activist groups , led the first anti-war march in Washington DC Draft Card burning in University of California, Berkeley with members of Vietnam Day CommitteeDraft Burning Anti-War Groups Students for Democratic Society Founded in 1960Students were a majority group of Anti-War protestersIncluded students from UC Berkley, Shimer College and moreHippies Youth group in the 1960s Counter-Beat CultureKnown for revolutionizing sex and drug use African AmericansBlack Panthers openly opposed US involvement in Vietnam Pop CultureJohn Lennon and Jimi Hendrix Blowin' the Wind by Bob Dylan Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon and Plastic Ono BandGallup PollsHippiesGroup of anti-culture comrades against the WarParticipated in 1968 Democratic National Convention ProtestsAlso refused to serve in the military and organized "teach-ins"Human Be-in San Francisco gathering of 1960s counter-cultureOrganized by Michael Bowen Focused on 1960s counterculture against WarInvolved heavy "psychedelic" drug use even though it was banned the year beforeReception to Anti-War Movement "The following year, Nixon claimed in a famous speech that anti-war protesters constituted a small–albeit vocal–minority that should not be allowed to drown out the “silent majority” of Americans. Nixon’s war policies divided the nation still further, however: In December 1969, the government instituted the first U.S. draft lottery since World War II, inciting a vast amount of controversy and causing many young men to flee to Canada to avoid conscription. Tensions ran higher than ever, spurred on by mass demonstrations and incidents of official violence such those at Kent State in May 1970, when National Guard troops shot into a group of protesters demonstrating against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, killing four students.

In mid-1971, the publication of the first Pentagon Papers–which revealed previously confidential details about the war’s conduct–caused more and more Americans to question the accountability of the U.S. government and military establishments. In response to a strong anti-war mandate, Nixon announced the effective end to U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia in January 1973."Effects of Anti-War MovementArgued that Anti-War movement did not do much to affect the warDid, however, change American SocietyLess soldiers for WarVeterans opposed the war